Saturday, October 18, 2008

Pie pumpkins - and other traditions

Tom and I don't live close to family. That has advantages and disadvantages. One of the disadvantages - a major one - is a lack of multi-generational traditions. We can't attend our familys' Christmas parties, and we share Thanksgiving with someone different every year. Because of this, we have tried hard to build traditions of our own for our family. We participated in one of those traditions today - buying pie pumpkins from the CNY Farmer's Market. We will now bake them, peel them, and freeze the fruit for use in pies throughout the holiday season. Another one of our favorite traditions is choosing a different country each year, researching what the people of that country will typically eat during a holiday celebration, and preparing a similar feast on Christmas Eve. Our kids love that one. We have some other, simpler traditions - unrelated to the Holidays - that makes our lives predictable and comforting. Things like sushi on my birthday. Going to the waterpark to celebrate the kids' birthdays (they were all born the first week in August), and putting the garden in the weekend after Memorial day. We listen to Christmas music on Thanksgiving. We hide eggs in the clothes dryer for Easter. We go hiking on the first nice weekend of Spring. And we eat orange rolls on Christmas morning. It has to be this way. Life just runs more smoothly if there are orange rolls on Christmas morning.

2 comments:

Some of our more ingrained traditions don't involve holidays at all, but I believe they all involve food. My kids know that we will go pick up crazy bread from Little Caesar's after going to the library. General conference means sweet rolls. An eye appointment for Spencer is a full day affair including lunch with mom. I just hope my kids come out of their childhood with a few good memories.

Matt and I are trying to make some of our own traditions this year. We haven't really thought of any yet, but this will be the first year that we won't be going to family for Christmas; so, I am making some homemade ornaments and what not for that. I thought that adding new ornaments to the Christmas tree each year might be fun. Who knows...we will see what little Ali gets into when she is a little bit older.